Its been awhile since I've blogged! 

A LOT has happened in the last couple of months. 

First off...I'm pregnant! 15 weeks and 5 days. :)

Second...It's a BOYYYYY!!!

I am a boy mom. I cannot believe it.

I have thought since before I knew I was pregnant that I was having a girl.

I would have bet my house on it!

We went yesterday for the gender ultrasound and when she told me it was a boy I screamed "what?!" 

I cannot believe it is a boy! 

I did not really care what the gender was...I just had a feeling it was a girl.

After the ultrasound we went to Target and just looked around at all the cute boy stuff. 

I can't wait to hold HIM!

Here are a few of his first selfies and more.

 Little nugget is just over 9 weeks in these pictures. :)

The next pictures are the most recent. Just over 15 weeks. And definitely a boy. ;)

So one thing you should know about me is I'm a HUGE Bachelor fan. I've watched almost every season and I can't get enough. Each season is truly the most dramatic season yet! ;)
So I was SO excited when I was reached out to by a rep of Sean Lowe's to provide a guest post about his new book!
I can't wait to read it!!!!!
#insertgoofygirlgrinhere

So without further rambling...here is Sean's post... 

This is an exclusive guest post written by The Bachelor’s Sean Lowe. Sean fell in love with Catherine Giudici and they married in a nationally-televised fairytale last January. But this is just the beginning for the newlyweds.

In his new autobiography, For The Right Reasons, Sean tells all about the backstage drama that fuels The Bachelor and The Bachelorette, how he overcame heartbreak to find his true love, and the personal struggles and Christian faith that have made him the man he is today.

One of the things that gave us a great start was going through premarital counseling in our church. We’ve really gotten plugged-in at our church, and we’ve stayed connected to the counselors there.

We’re not perfect and marriage takes work. There’s so much to learn about ourselves and each other, but it’s important to never stop working on it! Our overall goal has been to strengthen our marriage on a daily basis, to take it one day at a time. It’s not always easy, but it’s the goal!

Catherine’s involved in a number creative freelance ventures. She’s very skilled! She worked her way up at Amazon while she lived in Seattle, and she’s an incredibly talented graphic designer and has a background in marketing.

Needless to say, she does a number of things. Nearly every day she get’s a call from someone asking for help with this or that, and she just loves it! She’ll tackle anything that gets her creative juices flowing, so she definitely keeps busy.

I’ve started to get involved with the oil and gas industry again. It’s what I did after I graduated college. Living in Dallas has led to some great opportunities and I’ve been lucky enough to meet some people that helped get involved in that field again.

I’ve also been a part of some real estate ventures here. That’s been a lot of fun for me! I’m entrepreneurial. I personally can’t stand sitting behind a desk all day. It works for a lot of people, but not me. I love being involved in ventures that keep me active and on my toes!

Learn more about Sean’s new autobiography here, For The Right Reasons, America's Favorite Bachelor on Faith, Love, Marriage and Why Nice Guys Finish First

December is by far my favorite month of the year.

Its my birthday month (December 5th!) and its Christmas! 

Now that I'm a teacher, I get half of December off so that's not too bad either. ;)

Yesterday started the season of Advent. This is the time where we wait in anticipation for Christ. A lot of people think that the end goal is Christmas and skip right past Advent, but I think that Advent makes Christmas that much sweeter!

I started reading the Advent readings to my first period students each morning at the start of the day. {I work in a private school so I have the luxury of being able to talk about my faith...its such a blessing}

I am going off the cute calendar below that I found on Pinterest. If you check out Pinterest you will find all kinds of designs that all have the same scriptures. You should catch up and read through the Christmas story with me during Advent!

I was also thinking about starting to write down monthly goals. I did this when I was in college and I loved it. It really helped me stay focused {plus I am a sucker for being able to check something off a list!}. #typeAmuch?

So here are my December goals.

I have so many things to be thankful for. I most certainly do not recognize them enough. So with Thanksgiving being this week, I thought I've give ya a little something to hopefully get you thinking about what you have to be thankful for.

1. First and foremost, my Lord and Savior Jesus Christ. I am so thankful for the sacrifice that he made for me. I am certainly no where close to perfect and he accepts me as I am, but doesn't want to leave me there. 

2. My family. All of them. They are crazy and sometimes drive me crazy, but I am so thankful for their support, listening ear, humor, love, and shoulder to cry on. I miss my Texas family so much some days that it hurts.

3. My husband. I know that he is my family, but he is so much more than that to me. Other than Jesus, he is my rock. I love him so much and take him for granted way too often.

4. My job. I have always wanted to be a teacher and love it so much. Some days are frustrating and I walk away from a day at work wondering if I made a difference, or even taught the kids anything but I love my job so much. When a student tells you that you are their favorite teacher and thank you for coming to their sporting events, plays, and concerts it means so so much and puts meaning behind all the lesson planning and paper grading.

5. Coffee and coca cola. I am so thankful for these equally. They give me energy and can make me so happy when I'm having a bad day.

6. Running, clean water. We are so fortunate to have running water it isn't even funny. And we take it for granted everyday. There are so many people in the world that die because of the water crisis and we need to be thankful that we will not be one of those people.

7. Pinterest.Yes, it uses up a lot of my time where I could be spending it on more productive things...BUT I get a lot of recipe ideas, hosting ideas, etc from pinterest that helps me bring people together for great community time.

8. My iPhone 6. {I know, shameful plug that I have the newest iPhone} But honestly, I'd be thankful to have any smart phone. It is such a privilege and the ultimate #firstworldprob to have a magic box in our hands at all times. It can literally tell you more things than you would ever want to know. What an amazing gift! Plus it is so great that I can FaceTime with my loved ones when I really miss them.

9. My car. It gets me a lot of different places that I love to go and some places that I have to go to help others. I am on my third car and not many people are privileged to get one car, let alone have 3 in their lifetime. I am thankful for the ability to drive and the ability to have a car that is fancier than I really need. What a blessing.

10. Don't laugh, but Netflix. I know...it takes up a lot of time that I could be spending on more important things (like cleaning my very dirty house) but sometimes I just really need a break and what a better way than to catch up on what Dereck Shepherd and Meredith Grey are doing. ;) Or watching Safe Haven for the 239874 time.

...last but DEFINITELY not least. I am thankful for this blog. I know that I have a very small audience right now and I also know that I haven't gotten to post regularly this semester, but I enjoy it so much. Thank you for reading and I hope you have/had a safe Thanksgiving!

Caution: sappy post

Today is my dad's birthday. I love my dad so much and miss living so close to him. He has taught me so much in my life. Way too much for those little space. Just wanted to post a little diddy about him and say happy birthday! Thank you for supporting me, encouraging me, giving me grace and mercy when I don't deserve it, teaching me about the love of Jesus, providing for all my needs and most of my wants, and loving me through all the tears and stubbornness. I love you dad....love, sweet pea.

So I was trolling pinterest the other day {like I hardly ever do. HA. today is opposite day.} and I saw this really cute picture and thought...what a great future post to blog about. So here it goes...

1. Dating: I wasn't really dating in 10th grade. I had liked this boy my freshman year & it didn't work out so I just wasn't really interested. Honestly, I was enjoying getting attention from guys. It wasn't until Spring Break of 10th grade that I started to even want to date someone. That someone was Nathan. 

2. Eating: I LOVED caesar salad. Like obsessed with it. We would go on family vacations & no matter which restaurant we went to, I was ordering a caesar salad. I also could eat whatever I wanted & would gain no weight. It was actually kind of scary. (the second picture above is at Fuddruckers where I order a caesar salad that is HUGE.)

3. On the weekends: I'm sad to admit this, but I was in band. 10th grade was my last year that I was in band before I quit. So a lot of times on the weekend I was at a football game playing in the band or I was at a band competition. Otherwise, I was spending the night at my best friends Jessica or Taylor's house. 

4. Doing: I hung out with my friends a lot. But I also hung out with my family as well. I just loved being around people. I was super involved in our youth group so some afternoons I would go to youth events at the church or hang out with church friends.

5. Feeling: I don't remember really feeling a certain way in 10th grade. For certain I remember feeling like I couldn't talk to my parents about boys. I remember them poking fun of me when I was younger so I just started hiding it from them because I didn't want them to poke fun of me. 

6. Dancing: I. do. not. dance. Ok...really, I just cannot dance.

7. Driving: I started driving the day after I turned 15 & could get my drivers permit. I got my license the day of my 16th birthday in 10th grade & 6 days later my dad bought me a car. I was super excited about it even though it was in no way my dream car. I drove that car for 2 years though! Not to shabby.

8. Trying: What I remember trying the most in 10th grade was not trying to quit band the first semester, & then trying to quit band without my band director knowing it the second semester. It was horrible. He was mean & vindictive. He would make you feel/look like an idiot in front of everyone & I left so many band classes bawling. Finally after a week straight of me coming home sobbing, my mom said I could quit.

9. Dreaming: Mostly I remember dreaming about Nathan after I realized how much I liked him. We'll just leave it at that. If you haven't read about our story, you can here.

10. Forgetting: When I was younger (I would say before I was 20) I did not forget stuff. I just didn't. My family would make fun of how creepy my memory was. I still have a pretty good memory, but nothing like it was. 

What a fun post! It was interesting going through my pictures & trying to remember which ones were from 10th grade because I was friends with most of my friends through out high school. I got the idea for this post from Melissa Faye Blog. You should go read her post...just as fun! 

Comment & let me know what you were doing in 10th grade. :)

Ever since I can remember I wanted to be a teacher. So when I got to college, it was a no brainer on what I wanted to major in. Middle School Math Education. {I know, I'm nuts...now you see why I cuss. lol. jk. kinda...} When Nathan & I decided we were going to get engaged soon, I decided it was a perfect opportunity to move back home {from ACU which was 5 hours away} to go to the University of Houston. The only problem that came up was I had 2 years left at ACU but when I transferred, UofH didn't take all my transfer credit toward my degree so I added a year of school. 

Fast forward 2 years...I am in my {first} senior year of college - married - & my in-laws tell us that my father-in-law has taken a job in small town Alabama as the Senior Pastor of a church there. First, I was shocked. Second, I knew that the pressure would start coming for us to move there. My husband is an only child & very close to his family. Not to mention that he has always wanted to work with his dad. The first Thanksgiving my in-laws lived in AL was a nightmare for me. They kept showing us houses we could live in & all kinds of crazy things. Looking back, I know they were just excited and really hoped that we would live by them again some day. But at the time, all I could think about was I was about to start my FINAL semester in college & the last thing I wanted to do was transfer again. Or worse...not finish. So the thought about us moving there got pushed to the back burner. I kept saying "I will never move there. I will never move there." {HA!}

Fast forward 6 months...I just finished my semester of student teaching & last semester of college. I loved where I did my student teaching, but they did not have any job openings for math. Instead of walking in my graduation ceremony I decided to have a family vacay {minus my brother...sorry James...}. When I got back, I started working for my mom while I tried to figure out where God wanted me to work. & suddenly God opened a door. To Alabama. 

I heard from my father-in-law that they were going to be "rearranging" the current staff into some different roles to be prepared for the college that was moving to our town. Because of that, they were going to need a Youth Pastor. Funny thing? Nathan went to school to be a Youth Pastor & had been feeling like God was calling him back into full time ministry. YIKES! I kept having this thought that if God really wanted us in Alabama then I should probably get out of the way & let His will be done instead of me trying to tell Him where I won't live. I called my father-in-law & told him what I was thinking & feeling. He told me I was crazy because this wasn't a good time. I said that it didn't seem like it, no. But it was God's timing & will & we should see what happens. He talked with the church leadership...and here I sit...in small town AL/GA. {p.s. we really are on the border, so sometimes it's hard to remember what state you're in} 

Is living 700+ miles away from my family hard? Everyday. 

Is not knowing a lot of people & trying to adjust to the culture one of the hardest things I've ever done in my life? Absolutely. 

Would I trade the fact that my husband gets to live his dream of working with his dad? Heck no. 

Is God's timing simply complicated? Yeah, huh!